FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention most generally relates to games and other activities employing netted hoops or netted rims or other netted openings through or into which balls or other objects are dropped, thrown or otherwise passed.
More specifically, it relates to the sport of basketball and to the basketball goal assembly. The goal assembly is a backboard mounted in a vertical plane high over the basketball court to which a circular rim of approximately twice the diameter of a basketball is firmly attached in a horizontal plane. At evenly spaced intervals around the rim, the large open end of a net is attached, the net having a smaller opposite open end through which a basketball may readily pass. The rim and net assembly is often referred to as a "hoop." The object of the game, in the general sense, is to throw, drop or otherwise pass the basketball down through the hoop.
It is commonly known to affectionados of the sport that a hoop or rim without a net does not affect the motion of the basketball in the same manner as a hoop or rim with a net. Likewise, a hoop or rim with a torn or damaged net does not affect the motion of the basketball in the desired manner. It is very important to the players and spectators, then, that the hoop or rim be properly equipped with a net in good condition. It is incumbent upon managers of such facilities to make it so, and keep it so, if their goal is to attract users and spectators to the facility.
The conventional basketball rim is made of metal. The conventional means of attaching a net to the rim is by means of twelve wire loops uniformally positioned and welded to the lower edge of the rim. The rim is generally permanently installed about ten feet above the floor of the basketball court, making it inconvenient, time-consuming, difficult, and potentially dangerous to install or change a net. It is therefore properly and commonly the province of the facilities manager to maintain the court, including the net, and to have and use the ladders and other necessary tools required to do so. It is equally common that new nets and the necessary tools to install it will be secured and unavailable for immediate access by most casual users and potential users of the basketball court.
It is the further misfortune of these casual users and potential users that the basketball net, once installed, is then often neglected for an extended period when a net is worn, damaged or missing, until the facilities manager is faced with a compelling reason to replace it. In public-use installations, vandalism may be a further factor in the frequency of damaged and missing nets. On outdoor courts, the weather is a further major factor in the deterioration of basketball nets. The result is that many courts are left only marginally attractive for the playing of basketball due to the worn, damaged, or missing net problem.
There is yet a further problem with the use of nets attached to conventional rims in the customary fashion. There is the remote possibility that players aggressively jumping up towards the goal may get fingers or even teeth entangled in the net, and thereby suffer significant pain and injury upon falling back to the floor.